Name: Clayton McLeod Westhaver Rank: Chief Warrant Officer (Chief Boatswain) Service Number: 406551 Service: USS Ulysses (ARB-9), United States Naval Reserve Date of Birth: August 23, 1892 Place of Birth: Martins Brook, Lunenburg Co., NS Date of Enlistment: October 10, 1940 Place of Enlistment: Massachusetts Address at Enlistment: Massachusetts Age at Enlistment: 48 Next of Kin: Edna Jean Westhaver (Wife) Date of Death: October 7, 1945 Age: 53 Cemetery: Woodlawn Cemetery, Wellesley, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts Clayton Westhaver was the son of Collins MacKinnon Westhaver (1869–1931) and Stella Jane (Pearl) Westhaver (1873–1958). Clayton had three siblings, Belton McKenzie Westhaver (1894–1956), Hilma Pearl (Westhaver) Joyce (1902–1981), and Mary Ruth (Westhaver) Gray (1904–1985). Clayton’s US WWI US Draft card (from June 5, 1917) indicates that he served one year with the Canadian Infantry during WWI. After the First World War, he married Edna Jean Urquhart (1892–1972) in August 1919. Edna was born on Tancook Island, Lunenburg Co., NS. Clayton and Edna had one daughter, Blanche Evelyn (Westhaver) Gauld (1928–1991), and three sons, Gordon Earl Westhaver (1931–2022), Donald Cecil McLeod Westhaver and John McLeod Westhaver. Donald was stationed at Pearl Harbor in 1940, and was there at the time of the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941. John was also serving at Pearl and was wounded in the attack. Clayton’s nephew, Clayton McKinnon Westhaver (1918–1984) was a Master Sergeant in the US Army and survived the attack on Pearl Harbor serving at Wheeler Field in Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawaii. His nephew had enlisted March 15, 1936 and was discharged October 3, 1945. Both Clayton and his son Donald were working for the Western Union Telegraph Company prior to enlistment in the US Navy and US Army Air Force respectively. After enlisting in Oct. 1940, Clayton served aboard the USS Driller (YO-61), a US Navy oiler (appearing on the muster rolls Dec. 31, 1943 and Jan. 31, 1944), and on the USS Midas (ARB-5); on the muster rolls May 23, 1944 to Oct. 31, 1944. The Midas was planned as a United States Navy LST-542-class tank landing ship, but was re-designated as one of twelve Aristaeus-class battle damage repair ships built for the United States Navy during WWII. By April 1945, Clayton was serving as Chief Boatswain on the USS Ulysses (ARB-9). Like the Midas, the Ulysses was an Aristaeus-class battle damage repair ship which had been converted from an LST-542-class tank landing ship. In the fall of 1945, the Ulysses was tasked with repaid assignments while based in turn at Saipan and at Okinawa. Both Clayton Westhaver and his son John Westhaver ( USAAF) were killed in a transport aircraft crash at the Machinato Air Strip Ryukyu Retto Island, Okinawa, on October 7, 1945. Chief Warrant Officer Clayton McLeod Westhaver’s remains were repatriated state side in 1949, from the Pacific burial site in the Pacific, and he was interred at the Woodlawn Cemetery in Wellesley, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts along with his two sons. He is also remembered on the Cornerstone of Peace memorial at the Peace Memorial Park on Mabuni Hill in Itoman City, at Okinawa, Japan.